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ATLANTA – Because the Bills don’t play the Falcons very often in Atlanta due to their conference affiliation, trips here are somewhat rare.

I started covering the Bills full-time in 1990, and this is only the fourth Bills game I’ve covered in the city long known as the gateway to the south, and I’m on my second stadium. Super Bowl 28 between the Bills and Cowboys was played in January 1994, and the 2001 and 2009 games against the Falcons in Atlanta were played at the now ancient – tongue in cheek – Georgia Dome, which sits right next door, still looking beautiful and functional.

Today, I’m in sparkling new Mercedes-Benz Stadium which is undoubtedly spectacular, though it’s beyond me why they needed to spend $1.6 billion to build this place. I won’t even get into the Atlanta Braves’ new ballpark, which replaced 21-year-old Turner Field this season.

Say this for Atlanta, while the city’s teams can’t find a way to win any championships, the politicians sure know how to build new stadiums.

Anyway, I was thinking about this today on the way to the stadium, and I recalled that I did cover a game at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It was the 1989 Peach Bowl between Syracuse and Georgia, won by the Orange 19-18 on a 26-yard field goal by John Biskup with 25 seconds left to play.

That day, Canandaigua’s Bill Scharr had a bit of a rough game as he threw for only 100 yards and had three interceptions, but Michael Owens bailed him out with 116 yards rushing and a TD, and the defense limited Rodney Hampton and the Bulldogs to 201 yards of total offense.

The view from the press box at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.(Photo: Sal Maiorana)

So, five trips to cover football in Atlanta, three different stadiums.

Now, factor this in to the Bills-Falcons equation: This will be just the 12th game in a series that began in 1973, and this will be the fifth different stadium. Three in Atlanta, New Era Field, and don’t forget the Rogers Centre in Toronto where the teams played in 2013, site of a horrific 34-31 Bills overtime loss.

Just fun fodder, as I sit here getting ready to cover today’s game.

The inactives have been announced, and there are a few noteworthy players sitting out for the Bills. We knew offensive tackle Cordy Glenn was out with an ankle injury, and as expected, defensive end Shaq Lawson will miss the game due to a groin injury suffered on Thursday. The surprise is that defensive tackle Adolphus Washington is down, and that one would seem to be for lack of performance.

The Bills get back Marcell Dareus after a one-game hiatus due to an ankle injury, and Jerel Worthy is making his season debut after missing three games with a concussion, and that's part of the reason why Washington has been benched.